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I love cars, especially fast cars. On my recent trip to Spain to launch our new AC Hotels by Marriott brand, my host and new business partner Antonio Catalan took me out to the Spanish race track in Madrid. Even though I speak little Spanish and Antonio doesn’t speak very much English, we both have a tremendous passion for great hotels and also race cars.

Take a look at the great picture below. Can you identify the car I’m driving?

[Leave a comment below.]

What a ride. I reached speeds that must have been close to the sound barrier – or so it seemed. As a token of our new partnership, I was presented my own racing helmet.

Earlier, we had toured two of Antonio’s historic hotels in Madrid. They are now part of our Autograph Collection. AC Santo Mauro is the former palace of a Spanish Duke. AC Palacio Del Retiro is protected by Spanish National Heritage. Each hotel has about 50 rooms and a lot of great old-world charm.

I’m not sure which part of my day was more fun. Touring our two new “historic” Autograph Collection hotels or putting the pedal to the metal at the Spanish race track.

The photo showing my “two-thumbs up” says it all. It’s symbolic of both our companies coming together to form a winning team in racing and hotels. There’ll be a lot of checkered flags in our future.

I’m Bill Marriott and thanks for helping me keep Marriott on the Move.

Comments

I am Joseph, working as a contractual Technical Helpdesk Analyst Outsource employee here in Cebu, Philippines, i have read "the Marriot's way" book, and was inspired by the success story of how your family touched and help the lives of others, and now im planning to grab a copy of your book, to get more inspiration from you and how you continue to touch the lives of others, anyway to align myself to the topic, my guess would be 1960 Ferrari 250GT, based on my research.

you have a great day boss, and hope you can visit the Philippines soon.

Dear Mr. Marriott
We stayed at Hotel Marriott, Paris for two occasions during the past year, two weeks in July 2012 and nearly a month during January 2013.
I would like to give a very positive feedback about your staff. You should be really proud of Marriott Hotel in Paris, specially your staff in the Business Centre who helped me with many different tasks during my stay. They helped me to book appointments, translate my letters to French and helped me out with lots of administration tasks. I do not speak French but had to sort out a lot and without the help of your people in The Business Centre; I wouldn't have been able to do my work in Paris.
You have a brilliant team at concierge. They stand there all day long, portray a positive image and create a happy environment. They really went out of their way to help us and cater for all our needs.
My Special thanks go to your night manager Mr. Yves Jam who took care of us on both occasions. I can’t put my appreciation in words about him. He has everything a manager should have plus an extra factor of offering more than % 100 of himself. Although he was quiet busy, he always went the extra mile to make us comfortable. I had to leave my mum in Paris couple of times, so she stayed on her own and he took care of her needs brilliantly. During one night in which I lost my mobile, Mr. Yves put almost an hour of his busy time helping me to search for my mobile.
My mother and I would like to thank your staff at Marriott Hotel for making our stay so enjoyable and productive.
The stars of Marriott Rive Gauche Hotel
Management: Mr. Jam Yves
Concierge: Alexandra Galran, Harold Exbragat, Benoit Neveux
Business Centre: Pascaline Dogue’, Jennifer Ponticaccia, Helen Bitsch Ays, Vennesa
Jeannett Collins (Business centre manager)
Yours Sincerely
Parisa Peyrovian, UK

Mr. Marriott, I think its a Ferrari but concerning european sports cars of that era they all look alike to me. Been reading your blog ever since I started working here at St. Thomas(born here), and I have to say your really a down to earth kind of guy.You really work hard and never forget your family.You also play hard (which I admire) and shows me your not afraid to stop and smell the roses.Im very happy that you take time out of your busy schedule to write and inspire us all.

As a fan of cars and a particpant in motorsport myself, I have to say that flicking through your website this made me smile!

As an aside, until last year I had never stayed in a Marriot hotel, but in the previous few months I have spent a good deal of time in your Cairo hotel (J.W. Marriot). Just a quick note to say that the hotel runs very well indeed - which is impressive especially when you've stayed in other hotels in Egypt! I think I found my favourite restaurant in the world in your J.W Steakhouse, featuring just about the best pepper sauce I've tried.

So keep up the good work sir, I look forward to trying out more of your hotels in the future..

Mr. Marriott
Thank you for having Michelle call me concerning my mother's accident. Since I work for NASA, I will be sending you a picture/patch of STS-135 as a token for taking the time to respond to my e-mail that I posted in this blog.Thank you sir.

Recently I stayed at your J.W. Marriott hotel in DC. After three years of hassle with this hotel everytime I checked in I had decided not to ever stay there again. It was bad! Even wrote the Board of Directors and never heard anything. I was even able to convenience a number of other travelers to stay elsewhere when they went to DC. Anyway, this year I did consent to stay there just one more time and was pleasantly surprised! Darnell Rollins was at the front desk and really tried to please. Quinn Anderson pitched in to help out and worked hard on trying to straighten out the mess. She did work things out and even did a follow-up to be sure everything was to my liking. She "walked the extra mile". I truly appreciate all that she did and because of her will consider staying there again.

The Bellmen have always been helpful to me and they even remember the names (if known) of guest that have previously stayed there. Nice touch!

Just wanted you to know that you now have at least two STARS Darnell and Quinn at the J.W. Please thank them for me and pass along this Kudo. --Job well done!--

While you're having a great time with cars, I'm stuck on your reservation line, getting the run around and crappy service...seriously. I have never had to shout at a customer service rep until now....and ask 4 times to speak to a manager...and I'm STILL waiting.
Ridiculous.